


Fifty-Cent Piece

by blackflowercrowns



Series: Girlsies Week 2018 [5]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 10:32:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14423523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackflowercrowns/pseuds/blackflowercrowns
Summary: Smalls gets her hair cut.





	Fifty-Cent Piece

When Bird came home, the entire Lodging House stopped. Where she had once had hair that reached down to her waist, she now had locks that barely covered her ears.

Race was the first to speak. “Bird! What’d ya do to your hair?!”

“Cut it,” she shrugged. “It’s hot outside, and I hate pinning it up everyday.” Albert and Elmer gaped at her.

“You just, cut it?” Sniper asked.

“Yep!” Bird smiled. “Got a pretty penny for it too!” She dug in her pocket and pulled out a whole dollar bill. Everyone in the room went bug-eyed and clambered forwards. Most of them had never seen an entire dollar bill, much less owned one. 

Smalls, however, stood at the back of the room, uncharacteristically quiet. Selling had been rough lately, especially for the girls. And Smalls at least knew that Bird hadn’t cut her hair purely because it was almost summer. She also knew that some of the Brooklyn girls had done it first, and it had almost become a rite of passage for them. Smalls also knew that Bird’s best friend had come for Bird in the middle of the night, crying, because Red had made her cut it. She said her head looked like an egg, and Bird had laughed.

“Smalls?” Boots asked. “You alright?”

Smalls shook herself out of her thoughts. “Yeah, I’se fine. Ain’t you seen Bird’s dollar yet?”

Boots shrugged. “It’s just a piece’a green paper. Ain’t nothin’ special.”

Smalls grunted noncommittally. Boots sensed she wasn’t in the mood for talking and went to bother the new kid, Snipeshooter. Smalls crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall, sinking back into her thoughts. She didn’t come out again until Sniper pulled her into bed.

~~

Smalls woke up late in the night to see the window being cracked open. She saw Bird look around to see if anyone was awake, and seeing no one moving, climbed out onto the fire escape. A few minutes later, Smalls saw another black silhouette move across the window to join Bird on the roof. 

Sniper mumbled something and turned in the bed beside Smalls, ending up with her back to the smaller girl. Smalls glanced at her. She knocked her long braid over her shoulder and gently pulled the blanket off. She let it rest on the bed beside Sniper before climbing off the bed. 

She landed gently on the wood beside Boots’ and Snipeshooter’s shared bunk. Boots shuffled in his sleep, and Smalls froze. When he didn’t wake, she bent over and pulled socks on. 

Smalls padded silently across the room. A few newsies shifted as she passed, but no one woke. She arrived at Bird’s and Button’s bunk and stared at the sleeping girl for a second. Smalls took a moment to marvel at how Buttons managed to sleep through so much stuff before climbing the creaking ladder into Bird’s bed. 

She sat cross-legged, waiting for Bird to come back. She nodded off a few times, but when her chin slid off her fist she woke again. 

Bird entered the room again around an hour later, silently sliding the window shut. She crept silently across the room before climbing the ladder to her bed soundlessly. Her head popped above the bed and pulled herself up. Her eyes landed on Smalls, and her foot skipped a step as she jumped backwards.

Smalls blinked at her.

Bird climbed onto her bed and placed a hand on her heart. “Jeez, Smalls, you scared me!” she whispered.

“Sorry,” Smalls whispered back.

Bird smiled. “‘S’okay. Whaddaya wanna talk about?”

“Hair,” she said. “I want to cut mine.”

Bird’s eyebrows rose. “You sure about that?”

Smalls nodded vehemently, her braid smacking against her back. “I hate this mess, especially when they make me wash it. I don’t want it no more.”

Bird laughed quietly. “I know what you mean. How about tomorrow after selling I take you down to the barber’s and we’ll get you a cut?”

Smalls grinned at her. “Please? I was kinda scared to go by myself.”

Bird reached out and hugged Smalls close to her. The tips of her freshly shorn hair tickled Smalls’ ear. “Sure, kid. We’ll go tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Bird,” Smalls said. She gave the older girl one last hug before climbing down the ladder and walking back to her bed. 

Bird watched her the whole time with a smile on her face.

~~

The next day, Smalls walked into the Lodging House a pound lighter, a huge toothy grin, and a half-dollar in her pocket. She decided that night to take her friends Boots and Sniper, as well as their newest member, Snipeshooter, out to dinner.

Bird couldn’t wait to tell Rebel about Smalls later that night.


End file.
